Library to host spring lecture series

Wednesday

Mar 29, 2017 at 11:07 AM

The Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, in partnership with the Peabody Institute Library and the Danvers Committee for Diversity, has announced their spring lecture series. The series, established through the Public Education & Awareness Program, will be held in the Gordon Room at the Peabody Institute Library, located 15 Sylvan St., in Danvers.The presentations will begin at 7 p.m. and run for approximately 90 minutes, allowing time for a Q&A. Joyce Rain Anderson, a member of the MCNAA Advisory Council, will open the series on April 20, 2017. Anderson is an associate professor of English, the ethnic and indigenous studies coordinator, and faculty associate for Pine Ridge Initiative at Bridgewater State University. The title of her presentation is “Connecting the Land and the Peoples.“ In 2010, Anderson was awarded a small grant to begin the Indigenous Garden Project at the Bridgewater Growing Spaces on campus. With the grant, she started a three sisters’ garden to show students how traditional foods were cultivated. In the class, the students not only read texts written by native peoples, but they also learned how to quill, bead and create small clay pots and corn husk dolls with guests from local native communities.These makings “are significant for understanding Native rhetorical traditions because as things they provoke, create and prompt the stories that tell us who we are in relation to one another,” said Malea Powell. “They instruct us about our responsibilities to each other and to the land.”This teaching model grounds the course in local native space and honors local indigenous peoples. At the lecture, she will discuss the course design and programming and how they took shape.On May 3, the second presentation will include a panel discussion with three individuals from various backgrounds who will discuss the use of Native American imagery in schools based on Bill S.291: An Act to Prohibit the Use of Native American Mascots by Public Schools in the Commonwealth. These panelists will address Native American stereotypes, their impact on students and popular culture, the bill currently in the Massachusetts Legislature, and how to be an ally in supporting indigenous people of the Americas. Panelists will include Claudia Fox Tree, Jennifer Burgess Wolfrum and Heather Leavell.Fox Tree is on the board of the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness and has also been a public school teacher for over 30 years. Fox Tree has presented teacher professional development workshops and courses for over 25 years with a focus on equity, racial bias and multicultural diversity. She was chosen in 2016 as one of the top 100 women of influence in Boston; and also the first speaker at this year’s Boston Women’s March on January 17. Wolfrum recently retired from the Lexington Public Schools, where she was a classroom teacher and a curriculum administrator for 22 years. She currently teaches graduate courses at Cambridge College and provides workshops and trainings with a focus on health education and social justice issues.Leavell is a resident of Melrose, where she has been leading an effort to urge the school district to change the Red Raiders team name and related imagery. She is also working with collaborators across the state to raise awareness about Bill S.291. Leavell is the director of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum in Arlington. Dallin was a sculptor and an advocate for native people.This event is open to the public. For information or reservations: 617-642-1683; mcnaa@aol.com.